Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 560: Demonic Effigy Arts

The pressure was only the beginning, simply a sign that the spell was being activated. The actual effect of the spell followed when a discordant choir of tunes began to play, creating sonic ripples all directed at the Staff-wielding Klever, who gritted its teeth to resist but found that its entire being was being targeted by the spell’s magic that sought to unravel it from the inside.

"Nice... trick," Klever groaned and stamped its staff against the ground, causing an Arcana seal of a demonic kind to appear and fire at Eloise with a pulsating beam.

Her eyes focused, and her lips pursed with purpose; Eloise didn’t flinch at the coming attack. She simply moved the one wand she designated for defense and made a wide swing that conjured a host of musical symbols, creating a shield to receive the beam of demonic energy.

From the moment the beam had been fired, Eloise had known she wouldn’t be able to block it entirely, and she didn’t try; The shield spell she cast simply created a ripple in the air as the sound it produced was so powerful that it refracted the pulsating beam and sent it at the Cube wall instead.

Once the attack had been diverted, and with her eyes still glowering with purpose, Eloise drew back her attacking wand and flicked it like she was striking with a whip. Her move did two things;

One, it increased the intensity of the spell she was already terrorizing Klever with.

Two, it cast a spell circle—one composed with Musical notes in place of arcane symbols—that encased Klever in a cocoon where it could do nothing but continue to endure the earlier spell that was still seeking to unravel the very essence of its being.

The vibrations created by the first spell Eloise had cast in anger seemed to be the complete antithesis of the Demon’s equilibrium. And the longer the spell tossed that equilibrium into whack, the less of a handle Klever had on its body.

Klever coated its body with Demonic energy, creating a layer between itself and Eloise’s spell. There was a spike, like the priming of a repulsor cannon, and then the demonic energy erupted in a powerful blast.

"Ah!" Eloise couldn’t help but cry out as the explosion shattered stone formations and sent them at her. A piece of stone struck her on the side of the head even though she created a bubble to protect herself from the debris.

A ringing sound in her aching head, her eyes blurry, Eloise barely caught the figure of Klever—now free of her spells—striking at her with a powerful spell.

But then, a massive pillar of ice appeared between her and Klever. Klever’s spell struck the pillar, and it shattered into shards of ice that didn’t scatter aimlessly about but instead twisted in the air, becoming darts that all went flying at Klever.

"Aylin!" Eloise cried as her blurry vision came back into focus so she could see the Khione beauty standing with a hand on the back of her head.

"We kill it together," Aylin said, dropping her hand, with her eyes on Klever, whose defensive spell had blocked every ice dart.

"Together," Eloise agreed.

And together, they attacked.

...

Harnessing his Divine energy and kicking his Mana into overdrive, Aurelius summoned his spear— a Divine Armament he had been granted for the sake of his mission and had mended since it had been broken in two by Klever’s axe earlier.

The weapon and himself whole again—at least as whole as he could hope to be given the circumstances—Aurelius charged at the Spear-Wielding Klever right after Eloise interrupted their alternating speech with a yell and attacked the Staff-wielder.

Aurelius’s feet didn’t touch the ground even though he didn’t even use his footholds spell as he went sailing at the Demon. His Mana had made him buoyant and afforded him a kind of flight. As he dashed, Aurelius thrust a hand forward, casting a spell circle that he swung his spear through to activate it.

There was a flash of light that blinded all looking directly at Aurelius’s spell— including Klever. When the flash of light was gone, the spell had left a divot on the ground, but Klever was standing beside the damage, looking uninjured but with a frown on its feminine face. Whatever the spell had been, it had left an impact on the demon who seemed so put off by it.

Aurelius sought to take advantage with an attack, but then, so quick that the action was blurred to Aurelius’s sight, Klever raised its spear just in time to parry.

*Clang!*

The spears struck one another with a ringing tune. A bind was created between the two as Klever leaped back and pulled Aurelius with it, disrupting the Apostle’s balance.

Before Aurelius could regain his balance or even try to pull his spear free of its unnatural bind with Klever’s weapon, a clawed foot struck at his chest.

*BAM!*

Besides the bone-breaking force of the kick, the claws that tipped Klever’s foot already cut dashes across Aurelius’s chest. Aurelius gritted his teeth. The bind was finally broken, and he was able to pull his Spear free of Klever’s as he took two steps back to regroup.

Klever tried to follow, but Kaya was back to interfering with her vines, allowing Aurelius to get back into the fight without being forced to the back foot.

With Kaya and Aurelius placing heavy pressure on Klever, the demon was forced into the defensive, and at first, its frown was deep, and it looked unsettled. But then, it laughed.

It took a second for Aurelius to realize the laugh was coming from the two Klevers at once, and then, the alternating speech resumed.

"Foolish godlings—"

"—Your slim hope of victory lies in your greater numbers—"

"—so you band together—"

"—and strike with ill-conceived confidence—"

"—in complete disregard for the terms of the challenge—"

"—alas, what shall you do—"

"—once your advantage vanishes—"

"—as it surely must!"

And then, the two Klevers launched into a cackle.

Aurelius watched as Klever’s horn shrunk into its head, and then, there was a tearing sound right before a curved sword—a saber—stabbed at his face from behind the Demon.

As he recoiled and parried the weapon, Aurelius frowned at what he was seeing. For a second, he almost thought Klever was growing a second set of arms, but, of course, the explanation was much more ’simple’ since he had already seen it happen once;

A third Klever had arrived on the scene, ripping itself free of the Spear-Wielder. And now the two Klevers stood side by side, both whole and both wearing the same horrible grins that showed off their rows of fangs.

"What the fuck!" Aylin yelled from where she and Eloise were fighting the Staff-Wielding Klever, and Aurelius knew already that something similar had happened there.

Sure enough, when he cast a look over, a fourth Klever was standing beside the Staff-Wielder, and it was holding a gigantic broadsword that it had slung over a shoulder.

All four Klevers were perfectly identical besides the weapons they wielded. Their horns were only a single coil above their heads now, and it was only halfway around and didn’t even qualify as a single decadent version of a halo anymore.

Besides the length of horns though, there was nothing different about the bodies of the Klevers from how they had looked when they were just two. They still bolstered Demonic might that was equivalent to the Fifth Circle. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

Aurelius backed up even more as he eyed the now two Klevers in front of him, and from the pause in spell casting by Aylin and Eloise, Aurelius was sure they were also reassessing the situation.

Their advantage of numbers was gone now. There were enough Klevers to go around. But even worse were the questions that were in all their heads;

How many more Klevers could there be?

How long before they were outnumbered by this one—multiple?—Demon(s)?

Aurelius had experience trying to fend off two Klevers at once, and it had left him near death, so he didn’t at all look too fondly on the situation happening again.

It also made him question calling the ladies for help at all. What was the point when the situation was primed to remain the same— No, it was primed to become even worse!

After all, originally, the only one who was sure to die was him, but now, he had called these four others to share in his fate.

Sure, one could make an argument for the fact that if Aurelius did die, no one was safe once the Demonic invasion began. But that didn’t lessen the guilt Aurelius felt in the moment.

Hell, Delia lay in an encasement of vines that was trying to heal the death blow she had suffered! A state she wouldn’t be in if not for him!

Aurelius’s grip on his spear tightened and his blue eyes burned with an intensity.

The Klevers in front of him took no notice. They just laughed before their voices took on a menacing tone that sent chills down the spine of all who heard it as all four spoke in alternating speech once again.

"I told you, did I not?—

"—I am Klever—"

"—Master of the Demonic Effigy Art—"

"—And, I am never outnumbered!"